U.S. Lost Airports

[Richard Jenkins]

I have spent many hours staring out airplane windows and one of the things I have always looked for while crossing the U.S is abandoned or isolated airfields. Literally thousands of airfields were built in the middle part of the 20th century as aviation entered its boom age and World War II started. After WWII many of these fields were abandoned or turned over to civilian use. These fields are where our grandfathers, and in some cases grandmothers, learned to fly. Today, many of these fields are either being lost to new development or just fading into the landscape.

 

Below you will find some photographs from a lost field. Lets have a little contest and see who can come up with name and a little history about the field. Should be pretty easy to find.

 

Location: 33.95 North / 113 West

 

Photo from Google:

 

 

 

Surviving Buildings:

 

[Alberto Molteni 915217]

I'll have to say Echeverria Field /Forepaugh (44E).

 

As for history, I've found this: http://www.airfields-freeman.com/AZ/Airfields_AZ_N.htm#echeverria

 

Airport (well... technically) data: http://www.myafd.com/airport/44E

[Chad Black]

Richard, in my spare time I do the same thing! the site listed above http://www.airfields-freeman.com/ is a valuable resource for this type of hobby. I often do it while geocaching (see www.geocaching.com)

 

Tons 'o fun!

[Chad Black]

BTW this is the Forepaugh Airport.

I have been to this old airport a few times

 

The field is depicted as "Wickenburg" Airport on the 1969 USGS topo map,

 

but only as "Landing Strip" on the 1980 & 1990 USGS topo maps.

 

 

 

No public-use airfield at the location was listed in the 1989 Airport/Facility Directory (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).

 

 

 

As seen in the 1997 USGS aerial photo, the airfield consists of a 6,000' unpaved Runway 3/21,

 

along with the shorter east/west runway, the remains of which are barely perceptible,

 

extending into the desert to the east from the southern end of the main runway.

 

There can also be seen the evidence of an original 2,500' square landing mat area

 

situated underneath the northeast portion of the main runway,

 

along with a northwest/southeast runway.

 

 

 

A recent photo of the main hangar & the pump house as they exist today.

 

 

 

As of the mid-1990s, one of the original barracks buildings was still standing,

 

but it has since been torn down.

 

Since then, the only remaining buildings are the main hangar & two outlying buildings.

 

 

 

A 2003 AZ Department of Transportation photo of Forepaugh Airport.

 

 

 

As of 2006, this field is listed as an active public-use airport, under the name of Forepaugh Airport.

 

Only a 4,700' length of Runway 3/21 is listed as available.

 

 

 

The Civil Air Patrol has proposed building a training facility at the airfield,

 

plans which would include restoration of some of the airfield's historic buildings.

 

 

 

See also:

 

http://www.sonic.net/azfuller/WWIIfld.htm

 

http://www.airforcebase.net/aaf/cfs_list.html

[Brian Beach 915973]

You geocache? Me too!

 

Sorry for hijacking this thread.

[Chad Black]

Last weekend I took my girlfriend out looking for an abandoned airfield listed on this site http://www.airfields-freeman.com/AZ/Airfields_AZ_N.htm its the first one listed at the top of the page. Winona is only about 20 minutes from Flagstaff, so we hit the road, with the GPS in hand. The cords were off by almost a half mile, but after driving around the entire area for more than an hour, we found it. After being abandoned for over 60 years, the runways were still very apparent.

 

Just when I was about to give up I looked to the right and saw this...

 

This is from the other side, the runway crossed the road.

 

 

 

 

 

Information about this field from the website above:

 

Winona Intermediate Field, Winona, AZ

 

35.15 North / 111.27 West (Northeast of Phoenix, AZ)

 

Winona Intermediate Field 43A, as depicted on the January 1942 Prescott Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).

 

Photo of airfield while open has not been located.

 

 

 

The Winona Intermediate Field was apparently established as one of the Department of Commerce's network of airfields

 

built for the emergency use of commercial aircraft flying along airways in between major cities.

 

 

 

It was apparently established at some point between 1929-33,

 

as it was not yet listed among active airfields in the 1929 Airplane Landing Fields of the Pacific West (according to Chris Kennedy).

 

The earliest reference to the Winona Intermediate Field which has been located

 

was in The Airport Directory Company's 1933 Airport Directory (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).

 

It described Winona as the Department of Commerce's Site 43A, along the Los Angeles - Amarillo airway.

 

The field was said to measure 145 acres in size,

 

and to have two sod & dirt runways: 3,887' east/west & 3,300' north/south.

 

The field was said to have beacon, boundary, and approach lights, but no service.

 

 

 

Winona apparently gained a third runway within the next year,

 

as the Department of Commerce's 1934 Airport Directory (courtesy of Chris Kennedy)

 

described the field as having 3 sod & dirt runways (with the longest being the 3,960' north/south strip).

 

A shed was said to have "43A" & "LA-A" marked on the roof,

 

and the field was said to have emergency aviation gasoline.

 

 

 

The earliest depiction of the Winona Intermediate Field which has been located

 

was on the January 1942 Prescott Sectional Chart (courtesy of Chris Kennedy).

 

 

 

It was also still depicted as an active airfield on the September 1946 Prescott Sectional Chart (according to Chris Kennedy).

 

 

 

The Winona Intermediate Field was evidently abandoned at some point between 1946-49,

 

as it was no longer depicted at all on the March 1949 Prescott Sectional Chart (according to Chris Kennedy).

 

The need for the network of intermediate fields had largely been eliminated by that point,

 

as advances in the range & safety of commercial aircraft made such emergency fields unnecessary.

 

 

 

Nothing at all was depicted at the site of the Winona Intermediate Field

 

on USGS topo maps from 1970, 1982, or 1983.

 

 

 

 

 

After being abandoned for approximately 50 years,

 

the 1997 USGS aerial photo showed that the outline of three runways at the Winona Intermediate Field was still quite recognizable.

 

There did not appear to be any traces of any buildings at the site.

 

 

 

The Winona Intermediate Field is located a mile southeast of the intersection of Interstate 40 & Forrest Service Road (exit 219).

[Johnathon Neilsen 955672]

So romantic, taking your girfriend to an abondand airfeild.

[Chad Black]

So romantic, taking your girfriend to an abondand airfeild.

 

guess what? She also flies the sim I'm very fortunate

[Brian Beach 915973]

So romantic, taking your girfriend to an abondand airfeild.

 

guess what? She also flies the sim I'm very fortunate

 

She is a keeper, then.

[Trevor Majors 928819]

Last weekend I took my girlfriend out looking for an abandoned airfield listed on this site http://www.airfields-freeman.com/AZ/Airfields_AZ_N.htm its the first one listed at the top of the page. Winona is only about 20 minutes from Flagstaff, so we hit the road, with the GPS in hand. The cords were off by almost a half mile, but after driving around the entire area for more than an hour, we found it. After being abandoned for over 60 years, the runways were still very apparent.

 

SNIP

 

 

That strip is in better condition then some of the "active" strips I've seen (and landed on) up in the Salmon River Mountains here in Idaho. Too bad there is a road cutting it in half. Don't suppose you can tell cars to hold short can ya...